Be Careful what You Advertise on Facebook Sponsored Stories

More businesses are taking advantage of the inexpensive advertising options that Facebook has available. They are far from perfect but they have value simply because they get the brand out there without a lot of cost. The affects on reach are so dramatic and the dollars spent are so miniscule that many are promoting on a daily basis as Facebook wants it to be. It takes seconds to get a story rolling on Promoted Stories. There are, however, things to watch.

Unlike Google or other forms of advertising, Promoted Posts still follow the same rules and best practices associated with normal posts. In other words, spam won’t fly. In fact, it can do more damage to your Facebook page when promoted than when it’s simply posted.

Facebook takes into account many factors when deciding when your posts appear in news feeds and which users will see them. When you promote a post, it appears higher in the news feed for your fans and possibly in the feeds of friends of your fans, depending on which options you select. This is a good thing but it can have a negative effect if you aren’t posting quality content. If it’s of low value, people who are not used to seeing you in their feed may unlike your page, remove your from their feed, or report the content as spam (even if it isn’t spam). These actions have negative effects on both your promoted posts and your standard posts. In other words, by exposing content that people generally won’t like, you do more damage than good.

This is a common issue for businesses. They see the benefits once they start using Sponsored Posts, but after a little while the same money isn’t going as far as it used to. The costs of advertising go up while the potential reach goes down. They also start to notice that their unsponsored posts get fewer views because of the spam reports, unlikes, and removals from the news feeds.

The only way to avoid this is to make sure that the content that gets sponsored is of the same or higher value to people as your normal posts. This doesn’t mean that you should use Facebook advertising dollars on frivolous posts but it does mean that you must be mindful of the value you’re bringing to the audience. It’s a bigger stage when the posts are sponsored so be sure to put your best foot forward.